Slipping her hand out from under his, she swivelled until she was facing him, the bowl of batter behind her and forgotten as she looped an arm around his neck.
‘Kiss me, Harry,’ she breathed. ‘Please.’
It was as though she’d slapped him. Harry backed away, shaking his head.
‘Why not? What’s wrong with me?’ A bolt of anger lit Penny up, heat supercharging her movements, and an overly large sweep of her arm had her knocking the bowl of batter flying. She scrabbled around for a cloth with which to clear up the mess, but all she seemed to manage was to spread the glutinous mixture further.
Harry sighed. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, Penny.’
‘There must be.’ She mopped haphazardly, then gave up and threw down the towel. ‘I don’t know how else to express the way I feel. About you. How to make it any clearer. Surely you get it by now, don’t you?’
The way Harry rubbed a hand across his eyes, the deliberate calmness to his movement, it all made Penny feel acutely aware of the creeping sense of desperation which had been circling her ankles for a while.
‘Don’t do this, Penny.’
‘I can’t take it any longer. Why don’t you like me?’
‘I do. I like you so, so much, Penny. I love spending time with you. It’s not you.’
‘What is it, then? You don’t fancy me, is that it?’ Her statement was purposefully aggressive. Penny knew she was attractive, knew men found her interesting. It was more of a challenge, than an actual question.
‘It’s not that at all. You’re amazing, Penny. As well you know. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about you and me … It’s not that I’m not attracted to you …’ A tortured expression flashed across his face.
‘So, what’s the problem? You like me, I like you. It’s not as though I’m expecting you to propose to me, Harry.’
His expression became even more complicated, his brow furrowed while his cheeks bloomed with colour. Harry’s breath hitched, then rushed from his lips as though the air couldn’t work out where it should be. Penny must be missing something. If the attraction was mutual and neither of them had other commitments, then where was the issue?
‘The problem is there’s someone waiting for me, in England, Penny. Someone Ihaveproposed to.’
Harry’s reply took the wind out of her sails. He sounded serious, grown-up. Like he had a plan.
‘Oh. I see. Who is she?’
‘Does it matter?’
Penny shrugged, then wrapped her arms around herself. He was right, it didn’t really matter who his fiancée was. The only thing that mattered was that whoever she was, she’d beaten Penny to the prize, had already claimed Harry for herself. She sank back against the workstation, her bubble well and truly burst.
‘So, why are you out here, then, if she’s in the UK?’
‘It’s complicated,’ he said.
‘Why?’ In Penny’s mind, if she ever decided she was committed enough to someone to want to marry them, the last thing she’d do would be to abandon them and go off travelling. Because anyone could try and get their claws into them while she was gone. Maybe it had been a test of their virtue. A test which Harry had passed with flying colours.
The moment hung impossibly heavy in the air until he said, ‘I ran away.’
‘From her?’ Now Penny was confused.
‘Not exactly. More from the whole situation.’ Harry paused, his head tilting as his focus disappeared from the room in which they stood, his eyes fixed in the middle distance. Eventually, he focused his gaze back on Penny. ‘Her name is Sophie and I’ve known her since we were babies. Her family and mine have always been close, and I suppose it was inevitable.’
‘Inevitable? Sounds like the perfect reason to ask someone to marry you. Inevitability.’ Sarcasm was beginning to fight for the upper hand, but Penny couldn’t help it. Incomprehension was coming in a close second.
‘Maybe. Sophie and me – we’ve always been fond of each other, our families were stationed together more often than not, so it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I asked her at her eighteenth birthday party, and she said yes. Our families were thrilled.’
‘How long ago was that?’
Penny clung on to the way Harry’s eyebrow hitched, but he ignored her question. ‘But then I told them I’d decided I wanted to take some time and explore cheffing instead of what was expected of me, and it all went a bit wrong.’
‘How?’
